Bomb.



T. K. NORTH. BOMB.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 7.1917.

1,293,377. Patena Mar. 25,1919.

I 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

T'. K. NORTH.

BOMB.

APPucATloN FILED JULY 7.1917 4 www?,

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MMM.; VFW

Patented Mar. 25,

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THOMAS KEPPEL NORTH, F WESTMINSTER, LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO VICKERSLIMITED, OF WESTMINSTER, ENGLAND.

BOMB.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Mar. `?5, 1919.

Application filed I uly 7. 1917. Serial No. 179.277

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that -I, THOMAS KEPPEL NORTH, a subject of the King of GreatBritwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bombs which are primarily` intended to bedropped from aircraft upon ships and submarines.

-According to the invention. the bomb is provided at its nose with adisplaceable member or pellet which is so constructed and arrangedwith.'l respect to impact ring mechanism and time tiring mechanism thatwhen the bomb strikes a hard body on or below the surface of the watersuch as a ship or a submarine the said pellet will be moved downward byits inertia and will actuate the impact firing mechanism or when thebomb strikes the surface of the water without .coming/ into contact witha hard body the said pellet will be moved ilpward by the water and willactuate the time firing mechanism.- The aforesaid time firing mechanismis of the fuse type and may be .of such a character that it can beadjusted to give diii'erent periods of time between the ignition of thetime fuse and the explosion l of the bomb and can, when desired, be setto a safe position in whichevent the time fuse cannot be ignited.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readilycarried into effect, the same will nowbe described more fully withreference to the 'accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is asectional elevation of a bomb embodying both the impact firing'mechanism 'and the time firing mechanism, part of the bomb having beenbroken away.

Figs. la and l are'frag'mental sectional .views oi the impact ringmechanism and the time firing mechanism, respectivelyfn an enlargedscale. -f'j Figs. Q, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are sections taken on the lines 2-2,8-8, 4-4,5-5`and Gv-G, respectively, of Fig. l; 'thescgments and detentshereinafter referred to being omitted from Fig. 6,-and for the sake ofclearness being shown in Fig; l. 'in the same plane y whereas they aredisposed in planes at right angles -to one another as will be apparentfrom Fig. 6. y

Figs. 7, 8 and 9 show details. of the time f' firing mechanism.

a denotes the aforesaid pellet (shown inl the form of a piston) which isdisposed at a lower level than the lower end of the bomb body A andcarries an inwardly Xtending sleeve Z2 which together with thelpelletris- Y capable o f longitudinal movement ,within a surroundingcasing A. The sleeve b surrounds a casing c which contains the primer 6charge and is in the example shown provided with detonators d and e forring the said charge. Near its inner eiid the sleeve b bears againstlaterally arranged segments f or other suitably shaped mem-bers which 7project through holes or apertures@ (Fig. 6) formed in a fixedcylindrical part h to 4which the said'casing cis connected, the inf nerends of the said segments 'being chamfered or pointed to engage withcorrespond-- 7 ing recesses in a spring controlled strikerz' formingpart of the impact tiring 'mechanism. When the piston a and sleeve Imove downward by their inertia, on impact of the bomb withv a solid bodythe sleeve o8 moves clear of the said segments f by pusl ing theminwardly; the striker z' is` thusliberated and by the action of itsspring j forces the segments 7" outward and impels the 5r ing pin 7cagainst the de tonator u? thus iring 53 the charge iii the casing c andeX loding the bomb. rlhe sleeve b vis normally held in the positionshownin Figs. and list and the striker Vlocked in the safety condition bysuitable detents or pins Z having conical or pointed outer endsprotruding through openings in the fixed cylindrical part h and engagingin conically shaped recesses m Figs. l, lll and 6) in the inner wall ofthe sleeve. The inner ends of the detents bear against a. plug n securedto the lower end of aY hollow spindle p whose upper end .carries vanes qwhich revolve during the descent of the-v bomb through the air, the airbeing deflected vftov'lard. them by blades fr mounted on ythe 1 "body ofthe bomb independently 'of the spinidle p and serving to keep the bomb'point boss u"('Fig. 4t) carrying the blades 1' is's'eg cured by meansofscrews fu, the said sleeve t being secured tothe cap .s by lmeans ofScrews w (Fig. 5). The aforesaid plug 'nl'l is Jformed with a screwthreaded hole engaging with a correspondingly' screw threadedprolongation 7c (Fig. la) of the firing pin 7c. lVhen the vanes Q arerevolved during the descent of the bomb, the said plug n becomesunscrewed from the prolongation 7c and at the same time rises outof thepath of the detents Z which are thus rendered free to move inward whenthe sleeve b is displaced as aforesaid. The vanes Q and the spindle pare normally locked by a removable pin (Figs. l and 4) which passesthrough the boss u and sleeve t of the delector blades 1', and throughthe aforesaid spindle p. The pin w is shown formed with a ring head yfor tae reception of a lanyard by which the pin is Withdrawn during thelaunching of the bomb.

The piston a may carry a needle a forming part of the time firing;mechanism u hich needle can be set into a position opposite any one of anumber of percussion caps 6 (Figs. 1, lb and 8) which are slown carriedby a plate c on which rests a plate d provided with a groove e which maybe of the form lindicated in Fig. 7 for tle reception of a time fuse f.The needle u. can also be set into a position in which it vdoes not lieopposite a percussion cap ZJ and in this condition the time firingmechanism is in the safe position. The needle w is preferably carriedupon a pivoted plate g at some distance from the axis of movementthereof. The said plate may be actuated to set the needle into any ofits aforesaid positions, by a iinger piece L (Figs. 1, 1b and 9)arranged on the lower surface 'cf the piston a and connected tothe'plate g .iy a spindle c" passing through the piston, t 1e saidiinger piece .being formed at one end thereof as a pointer which canthus be set into any one of the positions indicated by dotted lines inFig. 9 to bring the needle aopposite any one of the percussion capslaccording to the length of time that is to ensue before the detonator eis exploded by the time fuse after the bomb strikes the surface of theWater.

The piston a and its sleeve b are of substantially lower sectionaldensity than the remainder of the bomb, tl at is to say the weight ofthe piston and sleeve per unit of surface area of the pisto 1 is lessthan the weight of the remainder of the bomb per unit of itscross-sectional area at the largest diameter, so that when t 1e bombstrikes the water the piston a and sleeve Z2 will be displaced upwardrelatively to the bomb by thelwater as aforesaid. As shown, the pis' tona is adapted to be guided during its upward and downward. movement bymeans of longitudinal screw pins y" whichconnect the plates c, dtogether :1nd project at their free ends into corres Aoo iding recessesc in the piston to permit of the movement.

If it is desired to render the bomb hereinbefore described capable ofexploding by impact when it strikes the water a cap Z (Figs. 1 and 1")is provided which can be slipped over the end of a nose piece msurrounding the piston a as lshown by dotted v ative and the explosionof the bomb willv occur only by the inertia.' of the aforesaid pellet,upon impact of the cap with the sur'- i'ace of the water or a hard bodysuch as a ship floating thereon. The use of the said 'cap also insuresthat the bomb will be eX- ploded by the impact firing mechanism, if thebomb is dropped upon mud, soft or marshy ground, sand or other substancewhich mightA not be of a suiiiciently solid nature to cause the pelletto move downward by its inertia without the cap.

l/Vhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedVStates is 1. In a bomb, the combination of impact firing mechanism,time tiring mechanlsm, and a displaceable member adapted to be moveddownward by its inertia to actuate the impact lining mechanism or to bemoved upward by contact to actuate the time firing mechanism.

2. In a bomb, the combination of impact iring mechanism, time ringmechanism, a displaceable member adapted to be moved downward by itsinertia to 'actuate the impactfiring mechanism or to be moved upward bycontact to actuate the time firing mechanism, a device for locking saidmember in a safety condition, and means for releasing said lockingdevice during the descent of the bomb through the air.

3. 1n a bomb, the combination of impact iii-ing mechanism, time firingmechanism, a displaceable member adapted to be'moved downward by itsinertia to actuate the impact firing mechanism or to be moved up-Lesse?? Q mechanism, a striker forming part of said impact firingmechanism, means for retaining said striker in a retracted or cockedcondition, and a safety device for preventing the release ofsaidretaining means prior' to the descent of the bomb through the air,

5. In a bomb, the combination of impact firing mechanism, time tiringmechanism, a displaceable member adapted to be moved downward lb y itsinertia to actuate the im- 'pactiiring mechanism or to be moved upwardby contact to actuate the time firing mechanism, a spindle extendinglongitudinally into the striker of said impact firing mechanism,displaceable detents carried by the striker and normally retained inengagement with the displaceable member by said spindle, vanes on saidspindle for causing it to revolve during; the descent of` lthe bomb'through the air and means whereby its revolution removes it from itsdetent retaining position.

(S, in a bomb, the combination of impact .tiring mechanism, time firingmechanism, a displaceable member adapted to be moved downward by itsinertia to actuate the impact firing mechanism or to be moved npward bycontact to'actuatethe time firing mechanism, a spindle extendingrlongitudinally into the striker of said impact firing mechanism andhaving; screw threads, a screw threaded portion on said Striker forengaging with the screw threads on said spindle, displaceable detentscarried by the striker and normally retained in engagement with thedisplaceable member by said spindle, and vaneson said spindle for caus.ing it to revolvednring the descent of the bomb through the air anddisengage the screw threads on said spindle from the screw threadedportion of said striker to remove Said spindle from its detent retainingposition.

7. In a bomb, the combination of impact firing mechanism, time iiringmechanism, a displaceable tubular piston-like member, a device forlocking said member in a safety condition, means for releasing saidlocking device during the descent of the bomb through the air, and meansfor releasing the striker of the impact firing mechanism during downwardmovement of the piston-like member without preventing upward movement ofsaid pistondike member.

8. In a bomb, the combination of impact f firing` mechanism, timeiring'mechanism, a displaceable tubular pistondilre member, a

casing containing the primer charge and,

surrounded bythe tubular portion of said member, and detonators at theopposite ends of said easing one of which is adapted to be lired by theimpact firing mechanism and the other by the 'time firing mechanismaccording to the direction in which said displaceable member moves.

9. In a bomb, the combination of impact firing mechanism, time firingmechanism, a displaeeable member adapted to, be moved downward by itsinertia to actuate the impact firing mechanism or to be moved upward bycontact to actuate the time firing mechanism, an open nose piece on saidbomb, and a cap for closin saidv i piece.

In testimony whereof i aiir. my ,v gnature.

THOMAS KEPPEL NORTH.

